Increasing overall equipment effectiveness of drilling machines by means of data driven dashboards

Abstract

The decline in revenues, within the South-African mining sector, over the last decade is troublesome, considering a significant level of employment it creates. This study aims to create a link between improved operations and operational dashboards. Improvement in the effectiveness of drilling operations creates the potential for mining companies to expand quicker and generate returns on their investments. The value of dashboards within companies is rapidly increasing with the growth in computer and data science worldwide. This growth, accompanied by the wave of Industry 4.0 technologies, has the potential to provide substantial value to companies investing therein. The study focuses on the use of such technologies within the South-African mining sector. It provides an interesting view of the improvement of operational project management, using data-driven dashboards. It considers various elements surrounding the dashboard. A hands-on approach is taken, using the perceptions and opinions of experts within the mining sector, as well as academia. Some of the understandings and views originate from experts within the world’s largest specialised drilling company. An Action Design Research method is followed, focusing the research on a solution that adds value in a practical application. The solutions and discussions on specific research questions within the study provide a unique perspective on the use of a company’s strengths, to increase its maturity regarding the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. Further research into the development of an operational data-capturing system within a drilling company is conducted, including the development of an operational dashboard with which its contracts can be managed. The value of such a dashboard is effectively verified using a well-structured validation approach, including the consensus of professionals within the mining sector. This study displays the value of a data-driven services focus, in increasing the maturity of a company, using a case study throughout. The increase in maturity to adopt new technologies is evident when a strong focus is placed on the accuracy of, attaining of, and intelligent visualisation of operational data.